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Recipes, Product Reviews, and Restaurant Recommendations for Western New York

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Niagara Seafood - Seafood Market and Vietnamese Restaurant

Bob and I went on a cycling adventure and as it was past lunch time, decided to head down Niagara to check out Niagara Seafood. It's like stepping into another world when you visit here. It's clean. I mean on your hands and knees clean. From floor to ceiling, every nick nack, every shelf, every item on the shelves are sparkling clean. And not the "We just opened!" kind of clean, but the kind of "This restaurant and it's store represent our family and culture." clean.

The cases were filled with large clean bins full of high quality seafood of all sorts. Prices are quite reasonable and considerably better than what you'd find at Wegmans, both in cost and quality.

The menu is both on a video screen and pictured in large glossy photos near the register. Very easy to understand what's in each dish, and the young woman at the counter was very helpful and sweet. After you give your order at the main counter you can either stop across the street at their store, which is equally spotless or you can sit at these great diner tables. There is your choice of plastic chop sticks, metal or plastic traditional asian soup spoons, forks and knives and loads of different kinds of condiments. See what I mean! Clean!

There are cases here full of every imaginable food item! Their sister store, A Chau International Market across Rhode Island Avenue, has walls and walls of coolers of crickets and frogs and fresh noodles and chicken, beef and pork and some things even I have never heard of and I LOVE exotic asian food. Even the inside of the cold cases are clean! All of this cleanliness made me feel like an intruder. As if these two buildings were really gateways to some greater thing.

They seemed alien in the Westside, a place not known for cleanliness or order.

Yes, even the great glorious fish tank was clean. The fish followed me back and forth in the tank like cats. Looking at me sideways, their mouths gape at me as if to say, "Feed me!" The gold one really caught Bob's eye, and you can see why, what a beauty!

We ordered a lunch to share, starting with an avocado smoothie bubble tea. It was exactly what was needed after each jalapeno filled bite of the soup we shared.

These pork dumplings were light, crisp and well seasoned with minced onion.

The Pho Bo soup came with a plate of firm fresh sprouts, lime wedges, thick slices of jalapenos and some very woodsy wild basil. I nearly thought it was some type of wild mustard or funky mint. The flavor befuddled me but it was really some delightfully different basil.

The Pho has a delicious complex broth, slices of a liverwurst-like sausage, skinny strips of tripe, beef, noodles, and scallions.

Layered in the toppings....

....squeezed on the lime juice and added a bit of hoisin sauces....

...dipped the dumplings in the citrus chili sauce....

We had an excellent time, can't wait to visit it again and encourage all Buffalonians to come down to visit!